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tv   Jose Diaz- Balart Reports  MSNBC  April 9, 2024 8:00am-9:00am PDT

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points -- >> you need household names, and rivalries and consequence, and march madness had all of that. >> uconn just won 12 consecutive tournament games by at least 13 points, and that had never been done before, and now the coach and his superstitions will be right back there again for another year. >> very impressive. thank you, sam. thank you for joining us. thanks to the huskies for helping me win my family bracket. that's a rarity. feeling good today. i hope you will join us again tomorrow, same time, same place. you can catch the show around the clock on youtube and other platforms. josé diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. good morning. it's 11:00 a.m. eastern, and 8:00 a.m. pacific, and i am joée
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diaz-balart. we begin on the latest legal drama surrounding former president trump. a new york state appeals court is hearing arguments today on trump's efforts to overturn a partial gag order put into place by the judge seeing the new york hush-money case, and this comes as the president suffered another legal setback in his bid to delay the start of that trial that has jury selection beginning next monday. an appeals court judge rejected his bid for an emergency delay, andly and lisa, walk us through the arguments trump is making. >> he can't get a fair trial in manhattan, and we have heard that from him before and he has
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a motion pending with a new york judge to adjourn the trial, meaning postpone the trial, because he believes a manhattan jury pool cannot be fair to him and this is the first time he asked to actually move the location of the trial and he asked to delay the start of the trial while an appeals court considers whether it has to be moved outside manhattan. a judge said after oral argument determining she will not pause the start of the trial while the appeals court considers whether the trial should be moved, and that means for all intents and purposes, while his motion is still alive we are barrelling towards a monday start day. we also have a motion to appeal the gag order. whether trump is also trying to delay the start of the trial on the basis the gag order itself is unconstitutional remains to be seen at today's oral argument. >> does it seem as though the
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former president has few avenues left to still try and delay the start of the trial? >> he does. he still has some motions that the judge could react to, including his pending recusal motion that he filed last week. again, he also asked for an adjustment based on the pretrial, and it's something i and others will be watching for today. >> so vaughn, how are trump and his team acting to the rulings on the emergency delay? are they prepared to go to trial as soon as next week? >> lisa just said it, we are barrelling towards monday. six days away. donald trump and his political opposition are putting out his position on abortion on monday, and on tuesday his team is
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inside the courtroom trying to delay this and trying to delay him to go and sit four or five, six weeks on the jury trial. donald trump posting a right-wing column on his truth social account called the absolutely insane case in manhattan. he did an interview on a right-wing out let in which he railed against the criminal trial set to take place against him, and he's heading to georgia for a political fundraiser tomorrow, and this weekend, just about 48 hours before he's set to go on trial he's set to hold in central pennsylvania a campaign rally. so for donald trump, this is, again, where the political meets the legal. it's all tied together because there's a very real potential that his ability to win the white house in november is going to be incumbent on his ability
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to make a defense -- not necessarily in the courtroom, but make a defense on his behalf on the campaign trail. >> caroline, trump's attorneys filed a article 78 challenge in the hush-money case, and how unusual is it for such a article to be filed? >> it's a heightened standard for an appeal. some people are likening it to another legal term -- we're talking about -- it's sort of a direct attack on the judge, and it's a lawsuit against that judge, and it's not so rare that they are filed, and it's very rare they are actually granted, and here the issue is the judge's denial of recusing himself based on trump's
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argument that his adult daughter working for a consulting firm that has democratic clients. we have seen these types of arguments before. it's not new. trump tries to get all of his judges recused, those that he sees being against him. it will not work and it will potentially knock out the docket, but we are still barrelling towards the trial. >> what can you tell us about the hush-money case? >> the use of jury questionnaires in new york are not all that unusual, and the questions asked are fairly standard, like, do you or anybody you know been employed by trump. that's standard. what is not standard are the questions designed to flush out
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peoples' feeling about trump and the situation, it's like do you get your news from cnn or fox or are you a regular lister to podcasts, and also asking questions like you have attended a political rally for donald trump or associated with anti-trump causes or organizations? those are essentially designed not only to figure out how people feel about the political environment in which we are in, but how intensely they feel and whether specifically they will be able to put aside the political affiliations and biases and be impartial jurors, which is what the law demands. >> and then a brief against trump's claim that he's immune from prosecution when acting as
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president? >> they made them to chutkan, and they made them again to the d.c. circuit which upheld judge chutkan's ruling. the special's council, and they are saying to the extent you find that any former president could ever be immune from prosecution on the basis of official acts, that shouldn't apply to this case because judge chutkan is looking at his private conduct, and this is largely a conspiracy that donald trump engaged in with private actors including attorneys and people outside the government for a private gain, that of keeping him in the white house, which is a personal goal and a political goal but not an
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official one. >> caroline, what do you make of the special counsel's argument over the immunity claim? >> they had to make those arguments, josé, because in which the supreme court took up this case. they issued a pretty pointed question, which is whether and to what extent does a former president have potential criminal immunity from prosecution from official acts. lower courts and judge chutkan and the appeals court made it a yes or no whether or not there was a presidential criminal immunity, and the answer was no. they did not get into the nitty gritty of are there specific issues if there's some form of a criminal immunity, where and what that line is, and this is essentially going to become a line-drawing exercise, and it's
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essentially is it the trial court or supreme court that will get into those issues, and i don't know if it's going to be that easy. i will remind viewers, there's -- that's where the sort of issue is deriving from, and those sorts of arguments trump is trying to make this argument to the presidential criminal immunity. >> thank you all so very much. appreciate it. right now in a michigan courtroom, the first parents to be convicted of manslaughter for their child's mass school shooting, and coming face-to-face with the families of his victims. we will take a look at how many years they could face behind bars. overseas, and why hamas could be holding up a proposal
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for a cease-fire in gaza. later, former president trump faces major backlash over his views on abortion. views on . help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. with powerful, easy-to-use tools, power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley. the chances of a plane crash -- 1 in 11 million. you're not going to finish those salted nuts, right? or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. never waking up from anesthesia -- 1 in 185,000. validate your parking or just see how it goes? -what? -why stress about the unlikely? does a killer clown worry about being struck by lightning while winning the lottery? -sure don't. but your odds of falling victim to online crime are 1 in 4. you need aura. you, your family all protected from scary online stuff.
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[ laughs ] aah! protect everything your family does online with aura. a historic sentencing hearing is happening for the first time, parents in the u.s. convicted of a mass shooting by their child. the mother of one of the four students killed is giving an impact statement. let's listen in. >> good morning. can you tell me your name -- >> here we have another parent impact statement. >> thank you, honorable judge,
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cheryl matthews, for your time on this case. i know it has not been easy on both. thank you also to the entire prosecution team. we appreciate your efforts. your honor, my devastation is hard to put into words, and what i have done in my letter to you, i would like to mention justin's brother, nathan and clay. they are now forced to live a life without their beloved middle brother, justin. my son, justin, was the least deserving of his fate. he was the best son any mother could pray for, and justin was brave, spending his final moments protecting another student, and he was hard working and a lettered athlete and top
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honor student, and he was kind to all. he was full of love and joy. his future was so very bright and full of possibilities. his passing has touched so many family members, friends, students and the community in general. the ripple effects of both james' and jennifer's failure to act has devastated us all. this tragedy was completely preventible. if only they had done something, your honor, anything, to shift the course events, our four angels would be here today, and justin would be getting ready to celebrate his 18th birthday at the end of the month. if they would have only taken their son to counseling instead
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of getting him a gun, and if only they had secured that gun, and if only they had spoken up that day in the counseling office, and if only they had checked his backpack and if only they had taken him home or taken him to counseling instead of abandoning him at that school, i wouldn't be standing here today. your honor, i don't know what's in their hearts. i'm not a mind reader. i only know the facts of this case, and the facts of this case, both cases have been deeply disturbing. what i would like to share with the shooter's parents is an example of what love looks like between a mother and her son. this is what justin wrote to me on one of the last birthdays that we celebrated together.
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dear mom, words cannot describe how thankful i am for you. you have been nothing but an amazing mother for as long as i can remember. thank you for being a role model. thank you for showing me what it's like to never give up. you inspire me to do better each and every day. i love you so much. love justin. it's devastating and heartbreaking that it doesn't appear that either of you cherished or even wanted your son, but i wholeheartedly wanted and cherished mine. you have failed your son and you have failed us all. this failure had deadly consequences that can never be undone and can never be made right. i am asking, your honor, for the maximum sentence allowed. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you.
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>> that was jill swave, justin schilling's mother. >> good morning. craig schilling, justin's dad. honorable judge matthews, for the second time in six months, i find myself standing in front of a packed courtroom, a victim. this time i'm here to address a different judge and the parents of the deeply disturbed teenager that murdered my son. this is my opportunity to try and describe how much the horrific event that took place back on november 30th, 2021, has impacted by life.
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it's my belief an impact statement should not just describe how an event impacted me, but it should be impactful towards all who hear it, and judge i hope these words impact you in a way that influences your decision here today. i look around and all the lawyers and police officers and media folks and other victims, i can't help but ask myself, what could i possibly say that this whole scenario doesn't already say? this is messed up. most people will never have to make a victim impact statement throughout the course of their lives, and the fact that the victims speaking here are doing so for the second time in six months should speak volumes in and of itself. this is not normal. living a life like this is not normal. so how does it affect a normal guy? to be completely honest with you, it remains a rather difficult and uncomfortable
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question to answer. my impact statement, i expressed many of my daily struggles, sleepness nights and not being able to focus on daily tasks, and it's fair to say i live every day with anger, regret, sadness, and anxiety, and they are all there every day in my life. we are coming up on 2 1/2 years now, and i can assure you the wounds are as fresh as they were on that tragic day. this hole that has been left in my life -- >> we just lost the audio from inside the courtroom there in pontiac, michigan. we are trying to re-establish
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the audio, and we are seeing justin schilling's father speaking to the court at this time. we are trying to re-establish audio and see if we can get that. these are the parents of the four murdered extraordinary little children that lost their lives that day, giving their impact statements before the judge decides what the sentencing of the two parents should be receiving. we have lost audio. i believe we still have not gotten that back. so meanwhile i can tell you that jennifer and james crumbly has been convicted on four counts of involuntary manslaughter. each parent is facing up to 15 years in prison. shaquille brewster joins us
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outside the courthouse in pontiac, michigan. we are going to be able to hear from each of the parents of the murdered children. >> reporter: that's exactly right, josé. you can expect a very emotional hearing. as we have heard from the parents of those four who were killed in that 2021 oxford high school shooting, and you mention these parents are facing up to 15 years in prison. the prosecution is asking the judge to give them the sentence of somewhere between 10 to 15 of those years, and state sentencing guidelines suggest they should be receiving a range of about 4 1/2 to 7 years, as the attorneys of the parents are suggesting essentially they should be released after getting time served and after acknowledging the time spent behind bars since october of 2021. you hear some of the emotion in the parents' voices, and it
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sounds like we have the father of justin back up now. i will let you listen a little more now. >> thank you. >> hours and hours invested in processing and organizing the evidence and also being able to use that evidence to establish the cold and hard truth of the tragic situation that james and jennifer crumbly failed in their parental responsibilities. the cold truth shows they did nothing to address the obvious disturbed state of mind, and it shows they provided their son with exactly what he needed to do what he did. one would think that for something of this magnitude to even happen, there would have to
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be a ton of things that went wrong, although there were some things that definitely went wrong that day. for several of those things, i believe, if they had been handled correctly we would not be here right now, and james and jennifer crumbly carry the bulk of the responsibility for not handling those things. the overall similarities between the two are evident. with jennifer, the thing that resinates more, she stated that even knowing what she knew now, she still would not have changed a thing. i almost died when she said that. four precious lives were lost at the hands of her son by means that she helped provide.
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she saw the drawing of the murder, drawn with the hand of her son. she sat and heard the request of the counselor and did nothing, and she still says that she would not have changed a thing. i just don't understand how somebody can be that heartless to make a statement like that. the blood of our children is on your hands, too. this is one reason i feel that jennifer should receive the maximum amount for her sentence. the facts presented should be all that you need. i feel the maximum amount of time available is needed for her to be able to fully comprehend the gravity of her actions and the lack thereof. with james, there were a couple of things that jumped out at me
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in particular, and one thing hard to digest is the fact that he sat there and shook his head in total disagreement, as if to suggest the jury was wrong and there were no grounds for a guilty verdict. i was dumbfounded to see him shake his head with such disbelief, and that action suggests he thinks he did nothing wrong. how could he possibly think that? four precious lives were lost at the hands of your son by the means that he helped provide. he saw the drawing of the murder, drawn with the hands of his son, and he sat and heard the request of the counselor and did nothing. i cannot understand how somebody could so arrogantly sit there -- the blood of our children is on your hands, too.
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this is why james should receive the maximum amount for his sentence. the impact statements should be all you need. i feel the maximum amount of time available is needed for him to fully comprehend the gravity of his actions and the lack thereof. throughout the course of all this, and i'm talking from way back in the beginning, i can't get over the fact that this tragedy was completely avoidable. there was pretty obvious signs completely overlooked and the bulk of the responsibilities lied on the parents and they failed, across the board failed. they willfully ignored the cry of their child and selfishly put themselves before him, and this blatant disregard is
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unacceptable, and is largely why the events of that day were allowed to happen and the reason i feel they both need the maximum amount of time available, to fully comprehend the negligence of their actions and the lack thereof. let's face it, kids don't come with instructions, and unfortunately no pause or buttons either. but we still want that responsibility even though it's not very clear what it all entails. how can we accept that responsibility and not act responsible towards that, and it
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doesn't add up. there's the same amount of love and compassion that every child gets, and a child deserves a parent confident enough to lead by example, because let's face it, it was not that child's choice to come into the world. you made them. it's your responsibility to set a good example. it's plain and simple. the sooner we can figure that out, the better we all will be. being a parent is hard work, but if it's done correctly it can be the most rewarding work you ever do. there's nobody that can tell you how to do it because each child is so precious and unique. there's no other one like them in the entire world, and that says a lot. so cherish your one and onlies, and never give up.
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never give up on them. the result of doing so could be catastrophic and affect the lives of so many other people. i ask you all to go home today and hug your kids and make sure they know you are there for them and make sure they are all right. it's so crucial for the whole of our society. thank you. >> thank you, mr.shilling. >> my little brother had to learn how to write a eulogy for his sister before he knew how the to write essays.
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when we split ways to go back to class i just looked back and smiled. i didn't say good-bye. i never got to say good-bye. i never got to remind her that i love her and she's my everything, and the person i wanted to walk through life with side by side. get her driver's license, have her first date, prom, graduation, and never got a chance for any of that. she didn't even get her 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th birthday. these are only some of the high school experiences she never got to have, but it's nothing compared to the rest of everything she had going for her future. i don't know where to begin.
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12:51 p.m., that's the moment i became aware. she took her last breath in her own pool of blood in a school she had not even been in for seven months. a security guard failed to put a tourniquet on her, and she had to wait for them to give aid to her. she knew how dangerous it is to live here compared to japan. she said don't worry, i'm a fast runner. i will out run them that.
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the fact is no matter what you try to make yourself believe, jennifer, you did fail as a parent, both of you. to love and to be loved, that's the human experience. it was up to you guys to show your son that, instead of giving quality time and compassion, you gave your son a gun, a gun that caused extraordinary damage. i believe your actions cannot even be confined as the word failure. your mistakes created an everlasting nightmare. you are still a danger to society, because even after serving two years you are yet to admit to your wrong doings, and when we do not learn from our mistakes, we repeat history. you call yourself a victim, and the difference between you and my family, you and all the students there that day is that we didn't have a hand in causing
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this. you caused the most cruel thing i could ever imagine. you guys loving hanna so painful. that's not a narrative. that's reality. unless you have a time machine or the ability to stop time there's no existing punishment or rehabilitation that will ever be enough, because there's no way the one life i have, i have to live without hanna, my little sister and my other half. to me that makes the maximum sentence of 15 years too short. you said after knowing everything you know now you would not do anything different. i cannot fathom that. i would do anything to hear her footsteps coming upstairs -- you don't have to roll your eyes. it's on video she said that. i would give anything to see her napping on the couch, and to
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laugh when we see the same thing at the same time. there's not a day i wish i didn't have, and if i knew everything i know now, i would do everything in a heartbeat. one day i hope you would have chosen to care for your son, and to teach him to be loved and to love, that you would not choose to omit relevant and important information to the counselor that could help your brains, and you still wouldn't choose to hide from your accountability when we had to hide for our lives. that you would choose to save hanna, justin, tate and madison. like my mother said, you should both implore that you will live your days that hanna did not get.
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i can never do her justice when talking about her. she's all i want to talk about, and i would need a lifetime and still would not have the right words to capture her humor, kindness or loyalty. she's always there for you, helping without a second shot. she's always sharing whether it's her smile, food, joy, and she's funny, and she brings people together, and you would be laughing right along with her. she's noticing the small things, new shoes, new hair cut or jewelry, and more importantly, she makes you feel seen. her energy is unmatched on or off the court. she's the first to put up christmas lights or any lights for that matter, not realizing she was a light for so many others. she was the one that would playfully smile when i would say i am taller than her, and she's
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not perfect but she was hanna and to me that's as close as you can get. i can't convey what losing her has done with me. going forward without her is something i will never be able to fully navigate. i didn't know -- i never felt every atom in my body with anger sl she was murdered. i have never known pain that is forever until seeing her in a casket and i didn't know it was possible to feel so isolated when you are surrounded by people, and she was my happy and home. i look for hanna in every one i meet every place i go and it's exhausting when i am met with
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disappointment every time. it's all the people she would have met, i grieve for them, too. having her taken away is more of a tragedy in itself. when the day comes that you re-enter society in 13 years, i hope you live more like hanna. i hope you live every moment to the fullest like her, and i hope you laugh every day and love unconditionally like her. that's it. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i find myself in a rather odd
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state of mind today. rather, emotionally blank right now. part of that is having to do this again. part of that is i'm mostly a private person, and the idea of having to pour my heart out again is irritating. i can't match the eloquent words that have come before me in the previous impact statements. i will limit my words today. the defendants, to their
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choices, to their indifference in gross negligent enabled their son to murder my daughter, hana and three other children. they chose to stay quiet. they chose to ignore the warning signs. now, as we have heard through all of the objections, they continue to choose to blame everyone but themselves. every single objection, i think, the counsel said this morning put the blame somewhere else, their son, not them. i stood before the court several months ago and spoke about the impact hana's murder had on myself and my family, and nothing has changed since then. it's impossible for me to truly convey the complete impact of my daughter's loss. hana's murder has destroyed a
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large portion of my very soul. i have said these words before, and it's still the truth. i remain a shell of the person that i used to be, and i think of her and miss her constantly. every day is a battle to attempt to move forward, i struggle to get out of bed and to go through the motions of everyday life. simple everyday sights and actions bring pain because i think what it should have been like with hana there with us. i think of all the good times we shared together as a family, and mourn all the memories that will never be. i will never think back fondly on her college or high school graduations, and i will never walk her down the aisle as she
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begins the journey of starting her own family. i am forever denied the chance to hold her or her future children in my arms. a few words describing hana could in no way fully capture her truly beautiful and caring soul, or her unlimited potential. hana was absolutely a beautiful and thoughtful person. she was always the first person to notice when somebody had a problem and the first to go out of her way to offer help. she was incredibly curious and talented. she continually tried new things. she crafted homemade jewelry and tried cooking her own recipes and played several sports, and she was the record holder in track and the leader in basketball teams, and hoped to join her sister in the lacrosse
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team in the spring. she had aspirations of a career dedicated to helping people. all of this is lost because of the defendant's actions and choices. my position regarding the defendants' sentencing and their future has evolved through their trials. at first i was focused on the importance of getting a guilty verdict, to have the message conveyed to the public that this type of behavior and choices are not acceptable. i didn't have strong feelings about their sentencing. it was just something that would be determined by the system. my view, however, has changed as the defendants' level of defiance has grown. instead of acknowledging any mistakes, they continue to show no remorse.
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they take no accountability. they and their lawyers continue to try and change the narrative and portray the defendants as victims of the prosecution team. they blame everybody but themselves and make threats of retribution. the facts have already been presented. the jury found them guilty, and multiple jurors found them guilty. hana, madison, tate and justin are the ones that lost everything, not the defendants. as much, i ask the court to sentence the defendants to the maximum allowable sentence to 15 years in prison. >> thank you. >> that was steve, the father of hana, and he said at the beginning of his words that he was irritated at the fact he had to do this again. this is the second time he has had to give an impact statement.
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in this process, where jennifer and james crumbley are about to be sentenced to up to 15 years, i want to go back to shaquille brewster who is outside the courtroom there. shaq, what a horrible, difficult thing it is for parents and siblings, the older sister of hana having to speak about the pain and how something like this could ever be put into words, and to do it over and over again. >> josé, that's also something that stuck out to me. they referenced this is the second time they had to make these statements in open court, in front of cameras literally being broadcasted around the country, and those statements, as they went out our reporter in
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the courtroom are telling us the reaction from james and jennifer crumbley. she said james was crying and his face talked about or described pulling the trigger, and jennifer's eyes were closed and she was looking down the table and not making eye contact or turning towards the family members as they were giving their statements. we will hear more of the statements from the parents over the minutes to come. there's no time limit that we know of where they can explain and have their opportunity to address the two parents now convicted of four counts of voluntary manslaughter, where they address them directly, but what we do know is they will be
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facing sentencing, and parents are asking the parents are 10 to 15 years in prison, and that's above what guidelines say their sentences should be, and the reason they are asking for the higher number is because of the willful disregard and the lack of remorse, in their words, that they have seen from the parents. they also talk about jailhouse calls that james crumbley made as his trial was going on, and he was on the phone, he would go back to the jail and pick up the phone and talk to his sister and openly threaten the prosecutor saying her day of retribution would come, and those are things the judge will likely consider. attorneys for james and
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jennifer, they are asking their sentence is for time served, and we will see if the victim impact statements, if that will impact what the judge does. >> we will maintain our eyes on that courtroom and bring you any developments on that. i want to take a short break and ask you to please stay with us. we have a lot more coming up this hour. we'll be right back. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. n. it breathes life into your laundry. nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea,
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a new reaction after donald trump made an announcement on abortion yesterday. he said he believes specific abortion bans should be left to the states, and he did not embrace a federal ban. trump is facing pushback from one of his top allies, lindsey graham. >> the idea that dobbs prevents the federal government from acting i think is an error. the idea of the republican party abandoning the opposition to late-term abortion i think would be a mistake. >> joining us now, dasha burns, gabe gutierrez in wisconsin, stewart stephens, a senior advisor at the lincoln project, and simone sanders townsend. she was chief spokesperson for
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vice president harris. dasha, trump expressed different views over the last couple of years on abortion. how is this announcement different from what he said in the past? >> reporter: the last couple of decades, in fact -- just before making this announcement, he had been teasing and test driving the idea of a 15 or 16-week federal ban. there was a lot of speculation about whether he might endorse something like that in this announcement. instead, he said, i overturned roe. now it's up to the states, which was met with a fast and furious backlash from the left and the right. he has been tough to pin down on this in part because he has been all over the place on this issue. i want to play for you a little mash-up of what he said in the past. >> i'm very pro choice. i'm pro life. >> do you believe in punishment for abortion? >> the answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.
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both sides will come together. it could be state or federal. i don't care. >> reporter: in that announcement video, he emphasized that republicans need to win. he said, you can follow your heart, but ultimately, we need to win. in all of the reporting i have done on where he is on this issue, that's ultimately what it comes down to for him. he is considering this issue as part of his decision making for who he might choose to be a vice president, someone who is not going to turn off voters, who hasn't taken too hardline a stance. he has been frustrated with even the folks that he endorsed in the 2022 midterms, because he felt they were too far to the right on this issue. we know that after this announcement, he is getting attacks on both the left and the right as he tries to stake out for a more moderate position here. >> stewart, let's go into specifics on this. trump now, after this announcement, he wrote online --
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how much of a political problem is for trump within the republican side? >> i think this is just a total mess. the more they keep talking about it the worse they are going to make it. take lindsey graham's position, for decades the position of those who oppose roe v. wade was we leave it up to the states. it took ten minutes after roe v. wade was overturned for people like lindsey graham to call for a federal ban. what trump is doing is saying, the states can choose to have the most extreme position banning abortion that they like. you can completely ban abortion. it's not where the country is. there's a surprising degree of a majority opinion on this that overwhelmingly, around 70% believe that abortion should be safe and legal and available. he is the guy that overturned
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roe v. wade. he says that. i think it's going to continue to be a huge issue in this campaign. >> simone, how much of this announcement and his reaction to the announcement is going to be playing going towards november? how does it play into the democrats' strategy? >> i think the way to frame up donald trump's announcement is what you and dasha and folks have done. donald trump is saying whatever he needs to say to win. he is concerned about winning. he is not telling us what he believes to be true. on that note, you have to watch what he has done and what he does and not just what he says. i think that democrats have strong ground on this issue and have been pointing that out. he was rightfully hammered on this from folks on the left and folks on the right because donald trump is saying whatever he wants to say to get elected. you have women who are featured in the ad from the biden campaign that was out this week.
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she and her husband are going through a box of baby items that were going to be for their baby girl, she does not have because she had a miscarriage and not get an abortion when she needed one. now amanda and her husband may not be able to have children again. that's the story of so many women around the country right now, throughout the south especially, in 30 days will be outlawed in the south, when the six-week ban in florida goes into affect. this is a lived reality for folks. as democrats continue to highlight this story, as the minority leader in florida told me, they flipped a seat from red to blue in january. the way was talking about abortion. she said there is a clear delineation for voters. there's one party that's going to protect your freedom and another that's not. >> that abortion issue is on the ballot in november 2024 in florida. that's going to no doubt have an impact on the turnout.
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gabe, president biden announced yesterday in wisconsin, where you are, a new student loan relief plan. what makes this different than the plan that has been shot down by the supreme court? >> reporter: hi, there. good morning. this is a hugely significant announcement, because the white house says that 10 million borrowers will have at least $5,000 in debt relief. this comes after the supreme court struck down a broader mush you are. what theed aminute station is trying to do is target specific borrowers. they are using a different legal justification. the previous attempt used a hero's act, passed after 9/11. this one uses the higher education act, which was passed in the mid 1960s. they believe it will withstand legal challenges. this all comes as the
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administration tries to court younger voters. this is a huge issue for them. over the last several months, they have lost ground. the biden campaign has lost ground among younger voters, for several reasons, including the president's handling of the israel/hamas war. i spoke with several younger voters yesterday. listen to what they had to say. >> if biden is supporting genocide, there's no lesser evil than that. we won't vote for him. >> reporter: are you excited to vote for president biden? >> i would personally say no. >> i'm excited to vote for someone that's not trump. but i wouldn't say that it is -- i'm excited for biden. >> reporter: many of the younger voters that i spoke with, they say they want to see more done on student loans, but that's what the biden administration is trying to do. they are hoping they are able to get that message across to those kinds of voters. even if there's a small shift from 2020 when it comes to younger voters, they have
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been -- former president trump has been gaining among that group, even a small shift could swing the election. >> simone, your thoughts on it. this is a big deal. this is something that specifically helps a lot of people. yet, the announcement made during the eclipse -- the solar eclipse yesterday, kind of was eclipsed. >> the president was in, i believe, madison, wisconsin, yesterday. perhaps the schedulers didn't think about the eclipse happening during that time. this is a huge deal. i think the biden administration lost the messaging war on this early because there were lots of advocates that said, joe biden didn't keep his promise on student loans. the reality is, the president did move to make a very aggressive play that would have kept his promise. the supreme court smacked it down. you didn't hear about the supreme court smacking down his
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student loan plan in the time that it happened and in the months after as you did about republicans who didn't vote bip deal but took the money. i think we will hear more about this on the campaign trail. >> dasha burns, gabe gutierrez, simone, thank you very much. you can reach me on social media. watch clips from our show online. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," israel's prime minister netanyahu says he has a date for the offensive in rafah. quote, no force in the world will stop israel, signaling what could be a trigger point with president biden. i will be joined by tim kaine to talk about the political disputes in congress over gaza,
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